The journey of one young woman learning to run a creative business with a DIY attitude.

Tag Archives: update

Yes, you read that right! Not only am I referring to the gorgeous new property that Brad’s family and I have moved into, but I’ve managed to finalize my aforementioned Breakup With WordPress. In this post I mention a few reasons that I’d rather be on Blogspot than WordPress, but I’d rather not go into it again today. Instead, head on over to my new blog! While you’re at it, be sure to check out the other social media applications that you’ll find me on and take some time to admire my improved blog design.

I’m sorry to inconvenience any WordPress users that may be following me, as I’m not a fellow Presser any longer. I hope we can still be friends and that you will find it easy enough to keep up with my posts on Blogspot, as I’m aware that it adds some extra steps to stay in touch.

For WordPress, this is not a fare-thee-well as much as a see-you-later. Someday I might comeback to the awesome interface and community that this site provides, but for now, I’ll catch you on the flip side. Thanks for hosting me.

Edit: I realized that I was so excited in getting this posted that I forgot to mention where it is I’ve moved to!You can now find me atShubetteHandmade.blogspot.com. Thanks for reading, internet!

“Graffiti on the Wall of Separation, Bethlehem” photo by David Masters on flickr

This week I came to a pretty big decision. For quite some time now, I’ve been working on what I originally pictured to be a great design for this blog. I’ve been slowly putting it together piece by piece and trying to work around some financial barriers that WordPress has presented.

To put things quite clearly, I’m pretty sad that I can’t truly design my own blog without paying for it, when I’m not actually making any money blogging in the first place. I’m really an open-source girl at heart, and I’m a little peeved that I have to pay someone to let me use my own code and graphics.

That being said, I’m in no way trying to trash talk WordPress. I’ve had lots of fun writing this blog, and I love many things about the WordPress interface, features, and community, and the WordPress blog is always full of fresh new content and ideas. This is just the path that I must take to be the best cheap-ass DIYer I can be. It’s the only way I know how.

I’m moving to Blogger.

Don’t worry! This transition isn’t immediate, and I’ll let you know when the move is official. First I’m working on perfecting my design, transferring my posts, writing new pages and content, and really just making everything more presentable than it is here and now. Down the road I may decide to come back to WordPress because of its various professional advantages and services, and I may someday decide to man-up and pay the custom design package fee. Until then, I’m confident in this decision, having used Blogger in the past.

I’m also happy to move to Blogger so that I can start to monetize. I hate ads that are really flashy, attention-grabby or irrelevant, so I’m definitely going to be careful in choosing some quality stuff to represent. Ooh, and I’ve been working on some buttons as well! I can’t wait for the big reveal! Are you ready for a little sneak peek?

If you’d like to get a better look at my progress(or subscribe, to be ready for the big switch, *wink wink*), you can check it out at shubettehandmade.blogspot.com.

If you have any advice on switching from WordPress to Blogger, have some input on my new design, or just want to say hello, I’d love to hear it, so leave me a comment below! Thanks for reading!

Hey, folks! Today I’ve updated my About page! I thought my previous one was a tad bit drab, so I thought I’d pop in and make it a little more me and a lot more descriptive. Now it includes a brief rundown on what my blog is about and goes into a little more depth on, well, me.

As of yet, I haven’t added any pictures of me to this page, but that will be happening in the near future, I promise. I know you’re dying to see me. Anywho, thanks for stopping in today, and be sure to check out my recently updated About page. You’re the best.

Make and list a new item every week. Status: Abandoned/Failed. Very early on I realized that this exercise would not be a good move to make for my business. I wanted to put quality time and so much thought into my projects, and one week to design and construct a new product didn’t seem like enough.

My main idea was just to put myself out there. The more I make, the more people will see, the more my business will grow…right? Shortly after(I did say somewhere in the previously mentioned post that I’m rather fickle) I decided that I don’t want to make crap. I wanted the items that I would be making and selling to be of the utmost quality. I didn’t think I could provide that kind of quality and I let this keep me from making anything for fear that it would not be good enough.

So here are my Resolution Amendments:

Sew every day. If I want to sell items that I sew, I need to keep my skills sharp. I should be doing some sort of sewing-related activity every day. I certainly have enough projects piled up to work on at least one thing for an hour a day, even if I’m just doing something trivial like pre-washing and ironing my fabric.

Sew better. This goal is inherent to the primer. If I’m putting in the hours and the effort I will get better at what I’m doing.

Looking back, I’m starting to feel like all of my blog posts are about doing it better and making it happen, but none are about me doing and making. I’m realizing that my blog is not as big of a priority to making my business happen as making things and improving my skills before I start my business is. This business is my goal, and I’m not going to mess this up.

Hi, internet! Today I’d like to cover some of the changes that I have planned for my blog and business this month!

Blogging days. This month I’ll be blogging every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, instead of on Tuesdays and Fridays. I’ve decided to do this to challenge myself a little more and to force myself to share more valuable content with all of the interwebz.

Design. You may have noticed that I’ve changed my background! I’ve been putting a whole lot of thought into the design of my blog and working on a few things to spruce this place up a bit. By the end of the month I hope to have a cohesive and custom theme put together so my blog and my etsy shop are matchy-matchy and copacetic. I’ve also managed to rearrange widgets a little and include a link to my etsy shop right in my sidebar, as well as links to some other platforms you can find me on, like Facebook, Twitter, and Bloglovin. Explore a little. ;)

Sponsors! Up until this point, I have not featured any sponsors on my blog. While I will not be starting a sponsorship program in June, I will be keeping my eyes and ears(and inbox) open for anyone who might be interested in sponsoring in the month of July! I will very likely be giving away some free spots in return for a sponsor spot on your own blog. If free stuff like this interests you, you can email me at shubette.etsy(at)gmail(dot)com and we can talk about how to be blogfriends. :)

Featured project Monday. Every Monday I will be blogging about my current featured project. I’ve chosen my first in this post, but haven’t really worked on it much since then. If I dedicate every Monday to blogging about my featured project, I will be more motivated to do the work on the weekends that are required to finish these less-business-related tasks that I’ve assigned for myself, and you readers will get a peek at my creative process. It’s a win-win.

Less cards. While I do love papercrafting, it’s just a hobby and I’m not selling the cards I make in Shubette Handmade. This blog was created with the intention of documenting my business progress, but has become so much more. My blog is my primary marketing and promotion tool for my shop, and my means of communicating for my business. I want to be able to provide more useful, quality content, so I’m cutting out my weekly card posts to replace them with content that will be better for your brain.

As you can see here, I’m working on having a much better blog. Today, however, I’ll be enjoying my time with Brad’s family at Knoebel’s family fun park in Elysburg, PA. Enjoy your weekend!

Today I’d like to wish a very happy birthday to a very handsome man, my boyfriend Brad.

Brad’s 27 today. He’s extremely sexy, incredibly fun and funny, and is the most wonderful guy I’ve ever met, to say the least. This picture taken by the crappy photographer my mom hired for her wedding doesn’t do any justice for such an amazingly handsome man. I’m glad to call him mine. Happy birthday, baby.

We celebrated Brad’s birthday with an awesome home-cooked meal and butter-cinnamon cake from his mom(as well as a pair of brand-new work boots), a trip to Walmart, and a crappy little incident with our clutch that means we won’t be doing much driving anytime soon. Also Brad mowed the lawn for his parents, because he’s just a kind and helpful guy like that. :)

He’s busy updating his Xbox, a gift I got him right before our car broke down last time. I suppose it’s a good thing he got it early, because we certainly wouldn’t be able to pay for it now.

In other news, I’d like to apologize. I was really proud of myself for keeping the blog nice and updated semi-regularly, but work has picked up again and there hasn’t been much time for blogging. Aside from today, Brad and I have spent every waking moment either flagging or driving since the moment we left the motel in West Virginia. On the upside, we’re gonna be seeing some fat paychecks this weekend, which generally means more craft supplies. You can never have too many. Speaking of crafting, here’s the progress I’ve made on my to-do list since I listed it in this blog post:

Embroidery project seen in DIY Embroidery Patterns in GimpBrad’s work uniform alterationsBrad’s duct tape walletUnfinished cross-stitching projectDuct tape coaster-turned-ashtray for use in the car
10 awesome pincushions, for practice(/products?)

As you probably haven’t noticed(unless you opened up the link before the list) I haven’t done much, aside from Brad’s uniform. I was hoping to get his wallet finished before his birthday, but the company killed that goal. Well, internet, thanks for checking out my boyfriend and my progress, and of course I’d love for you to take the fricking poll at the bottom of my Blog Advice post. I’d like to know what the hell my readers are thinking.

Good evening, internet! I hope by the time you read this you’ve already had a pleasant Independence Day. As you may or may not know, today is also my birthday, and to celebrate, I’ve added a brand-new page to the blog that’s all About Me! I deserve it, after all…